I was shocked at how beautiful this biography turned out to be! I expected a lot of non-essential information, but there was a wealth of information on the real man who was St. Patrick. The author is a 'wielder of words' and really drew me into the life and times of St. Patrick. A lovely, highly-readable, and now very treasured book in my library!

In regard to the life of St. Patrick, there are a lot of misconceptions. It is a myth that St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. Even if this were true, it would not necessarily qualify him as a saint. Myths such as this were written only to further St. Patrick's legacy. St. Patrick is recognized as having brought Christianity to Ireland with dedication that could only have come from God. In his book, Philip Freeman, tells what we know to be the truth about the saint's life based on his personal letters.

Few people remember that Patrick was actually a British nobleman. At sixteen years of age, he was kidnapped from his homeland to be taken to Ireland in slavery. He spent six years in slavery before the voice of God told him how to escape. Escaping as worker on a cargo ship despite insurmountable odds, St. Patrick is able to return to his homeland. When he returns home, God informs him in a dream that he must return to Ireland to spread the Good News of the Lord. This was a job that few Christians wanted as Ireland was run by savage pagans. St. Patrick followed God's call and studied to become a deacon, then priest, before becoming the bishop of Ireland. His work is phenomenal because he reached so many people, most by preaching to individuals. While his education was more limited than many clergymen of his time, the simple truths he taught built a great nation of Christianity.

In the book, Freeman gives the best possible account of St. Patrick's life as the sparse records of the past will allow. Unlike other biographers, he does not embellish the life of this saint. Freeman's voice seems very removed from the subject as he writes giving the book a very impersonal feeling. I also object to the redundancy in Freeman's writing as he often repeats himself and goes for pages only writing about Patrick's era not St. Patrick himself. While I do not fault him for the limited amount of imformation on the saint's life, straying from the subject of St. Patrick's life for long periods of the book is inexcusable. That being said, the book is accurate and a easy read.